Today we’d like to introduce you to Don Miller.
Don, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I met my first Tai Chi teacher over 40 years ago. I was a black belt Taekwondo instructor, and–just like in the movies–I found a laughing old Chinese guy who could easily throw me around. His name was Liang Tung Tsai, and he lived to 103. I kid you not! From him I learned that Tai Chi was both a powerful martial art, a system of maintaining excellent health into old age, and a mental-spiritual art that conferred naturalness, serenity, and spontaneity. Since then, I have studied with many teachers, both in the US and Asia, but my foundation in Liang’s sagacity, irreverence, and laughter have remained with me.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Like most active people (especially martial artists!) past the age of 50, I have experienced an array of physical injuries and problems that have challenged my ability to just blast through life as I would like. I’ve had two hip replacements, multiple knee surgeries, and a host of other problems. But Tai Chi has definitely enabled me to keep moving, and even to keep progressing in my ability and understanding, because in Tai Chi we learn to flow around (and under) obstacles rather than simply try to force our way through them.
Brookline Tai Chi – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Brookline Tai Chi has been a respected Tai Chi and Qigong school in the Boston area for more than 20 years.
I’ve been teaching there since 2012, and have been Program Director for the past year. We offer a fantastic array of courses, from traditional forms to more innovative and accessible programs that get people started on the Tai Chi journey. We are now partnering with organizations that serve the elderly and other special populations, to bring the benefits of Tai Chi to people who might otherwise not get to come in to our school– people in nursing homes, people with Parkinson’s, the blind, and so on. I’m really excited about the prospects of sharing authentic Tai Chi with everyone who could benefit from it–which is pretty much everyone!
I think what sets us apart from other schools is that we teach a variety of Tai Chi and Qigong styles and methods–Wu Style, Yang Style, Yiquan, etc–and we have master-instructors coming in every month to give seminars in other styles and disciplines. We are becoming a center for all the “internal arts” to be shared at a high level.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Personally, success means fulfilling my deepest purposes in this life, expressing my heart and spirit, and
helping others. When I teach a class and I see students, not copying me, but really “owning” the moves and making them their own, then I know I’ve been successful not “teaching”, but kindling in others the flame of self-development and discovery. As my teacher Liang used to say, “Blind followers are dead. Rebels can get something.”
Contact Info:
- Address: 131 Cypress Street, Brookline MA 02445
- Website: brooklinetaichi.org
- Phone: 617-277-2975
- Facebook: Brookline Tai Chi
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